Expectant Mother Upset With Frontier Airlines After Scare

DENVER (CBS4) - An expectant mother on a Frontier Airlines flight that was forced to make a rapid descent says the ordeal sent her to the hospital, and afterwards the airline refused to give her a refund.

There is no question the flight was in trouble. Becky Long accepts how the flight crew reacted and the mechanical issue, but it's customer service that's upset her most.

It was a Republic Airlines flight operated as Frontier Airlines from Denver to San Diego.

"The emergency dinging started happening," Long said.

She thought nothing of it until the flight attendant picked up the intercom.

"She actually said, 'The pilot has declared an emergency,' " Long said.

The cabin was losing air pressure.

"Then she continued and said, 'We are going to crash. Please put your head between your legs and hold onto your ankles,' " she said.

That's when Long hit her emergency call button. Her head wasn't going to fit between her legs because she was seven months pregnant.

"She wanted me to keep the pillow under my belly and then hold onto my thighs and just try to keep tight."

Long grabbed her cell phone and texted her baby's father, "Baby, there's an emergency situation. We are in trouble. We are putting our heads down and landing in the middle of nowhere. I love you so much."

Then the contractions began.

"On the flight I felt like my stomach was getting tighter and tighter and tighter."

The plane did land safely and Long went to the hospital for six hours of monitoring. She and the baby were okay, but she wanted a refund and spoke with a customer representative.

"She very rudely told me 'no.' "

So she talked to another representative.

"I told her I was pregnant. She asked why it was their fault I was pregnant."

CBS4 contacted Frontier on Long's behalf and she has been issued a full refund.

"I'm glad we got the refund but I find it unbelievable that it took a news reporter's email and phone call to get just a refund on a flight that we didn't land."

Long is also talking to Frontier about paying her medical bills not covered by insurance. She says if they make the situation right she'll have no problem flying them again, although she's grounded until her baby boy arrives.